Early life

Higgins, the second of five children, was born in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire to Paula Cecilia (née Murphy) and James Stephen Higgins. Her parents were from working class Irish Catholic backgrounds and worked as teachers. Higgins was interested in acting since her childhood. After being expelled from a convent school, she ran away from home at seventeen. At 19, she gave birth to a boy but gave him up for adoption because she was unable to raise him.

Career

At 23, she achieved her dream of becoming an actress, graduating from LAMDA. Through the 1980s, she became a dynamic stage actress, both in London and on Broadway. She starred in the premiere of The Secret Rapture, and won the first of her three Olivier Awards in 1995. In 1983, she starred with Ben Cross in the BBC production of A.J. Cronin's The Citadel, playing the role of Christine Manson. For the big screen, Clare played Julia Cotton in Clive Barker's Hellraiser (1987), based on Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart. Higgins reprised the role for Tony Randel's Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988). Her other film credits include the Scottish film Small Faces (1996), Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream (2007), and The Golden Compass (2007).

Higgins recently appeared as Jocasta in the National Theatre's critically acclaimed production of Oedipus, opposite Ralph Fiennes in the title role. From April to May 2009, she appeared in Wallace Shawn's The Fever at the Royal Court Theatre.

From mid-May to September 2009, she appeared as the Countess Rossillion in All's Well That Ends Well at the National Theatre (Olivier stage).

On 30 September 2012, Higgins appeared in Season 3, episode 3 of Downton Abbey as Mrs. Bartlett, a friend of Mrs. Bates who eventually helps in the release of Mr Bates from prison.

On 14 November, 2013, she appeared in the Doctor Who mini-episode "The Night of the Doctor", which starred Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. Higgins played Ohila, the leader of the Sisterhood of Karn. Higgins returned to the role in 2015 in "The Magician's Apprentice", which originally aired on 19 September 2015, and in the series finale "Hell Bent" on 5 December 2015. The same year she appeared in EastEnders, as prosecuting lawyer Hazel Warren.

Acting awards and nominations

Higgins was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1995 (1994 season) for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in Sweet Bird of Youth at the Royal National Theatre. She won the same award in both 2002 and 2005: in 2002 for her performance in Vincent in Brixton performed at the Royal National Theatre, Cottesloe and Wyndham's Theatres, and in 2005 for her performance as Hecuba in the Euripides tragedy at the Donmar Warehouse. She was awarded the 2002 London Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in Vincent in Brixton. Additionally, she was awarded the 1994 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre) for Best Actress for her performances in The Children's Hour and Sweet Bird of Youth. She was also awarded the 2002 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in Vincent in Brixton at the Donmar Warehouse in London. In 2003 she was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Actress in a Play for Vincent in Brixton on Broadway, and garnered the 2003 Theatre World Award for outstanding major Broadway debut.

Filmography

• Nineteen Nineteen (1985)
• Hellraiser (1987)
• Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
• The Fruit Machine (1988)
• Bad Behaviour (1993)
• Circle of Deceit (1993, TV movie)
• Fatherland (1994, TV movie)
• Small Faces (1996)
• B. Monkey (1998)
• The House of Mirth (2000)
• Stage Beauty (2004)
• The Libertine (2004)
• Bigger Than the Sky (2005)
• Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005)
• Cassandra's Dream (2007)
• The Golden Compass (2007)
• Toast (2010, TV movie)
• A Fantastic Fear of Everything (2012)
• I Give It a Year (2013)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]